The origin of many a scientific concept can be traced back to a point at which the solution of a problem required that newly discovered components be given descriptive labels. This being the case, when an established concept (label) is under examination, it is sometimes useful to remember the original problem that brought it into being. As a case in point, the concept central to the present paper, "role", owes its origin to the one time necessity to account for regularities observed in the behavior of people who held similar posts or offices. Linton's (1936) original sociological formulation of r01e and status implies as much:A status as distinct from the individual who may occupy it, is simply a collection of rights and duties... A role represents the dynamic aspect of status... Role and status are quite inseparable and the distinction between them is only of academic interest... Every individual has a series of roles deriving from various patterns in which he participates and at the same time a role general which represents the sum total of the roles.However, Linton's statement is more than a definition, for the use of the term "duties" implies that the role concept is to be seen not only as descriptive, but also as prescriptive. This prescriptive characteristic of role has, from time to time, found favor among educational writers but in sociology, where "role" has been given much greater prominence, a similar inclination has not been apparent. Sociologists, intrigued by consistencies and inconsistencies in the behaviour of position holders, have sought both to describe roles and explain why particular role performances were so. Their attempts at explaining how people come to adopt roles are relevant to the present discussion because the two major explanations offered are essentially educational in character. In the first, the role novitiate is seen as deliberately modelling his behaviour on other incumbents previously visible to him. In the second, the novitiate is seen as something less than master of his own (conformist) fate and more as a victim of circumstances whose behaviour is coerced and channelled by the others in the context. They expect him to behave in an "appropriate" fashion and their behaviour towards him ensures it.
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